Nailed at New York Fashion Week

In the "Super Bowl" of the fashion world, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City, the focus is, of course, the fashion. The hairstyles, makeup concepts and nail designs are often kept neutral or at least calm so that the attention stays on the clothing. This year, however, several designers chose to go full-force with their models' beauty designs... which makes it that much more fun for us!

Some of the longest and most pointy nails we saw were at the Nicholas K show, where the Rihanna-esque nails were painted with a matte black polish with shiny edges. At the Azede Jean-Pierre show, the lunula (or half-moon) shape at the base of the nail was kept almost white, as was the edge of the nail, while the main body of the nail was a dark gray/charcoal shade.

Vera Wang also went dark, choosing a shimmery, almost-black charcoal gray polish for her models' mani's. Nails were stark white, however, at the Karen Walker show. One of our Fashion Week nail favorites was at the Giuletta show, where models' nails were a deep burgundy that was so dark, it was close to black. And added to that was the design, in which the entire nail was painted except the half-moon shape at the base of the nail, which was kept nude/transparent.

Going with a shot of color, Tess Giberson chose a cool navy blue polish for her models, but the very end of the edges were painted white. Lisa Perry's models' nails looked almost robotic, with shiny silver nails.

There were two designers who kept things fairly neutral, and still very pretty. Derek Lam went with a completely nude, french-tip looking natural nail. It was pink and white and pretty, and very natural looking. Our fave natural look, though, was at Tibi, where the nails were kept mostly natural but had a strong shimmer top coat applied to give a touch of glam.

While the nail art designs were not necessarily complicated, the tones and polishes used at Fashion Week were certainly stronger and more eye-catching than is usually seen on the runway. And that means more for us beauty fanatics to check out.

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Brittany has 15 years of professional experience in the beauty industry. She's is a licensed Cosmetologist, Nail Technician, Esthetician, Makeup Artist- as well as a licensed Instructor in all these subjects. Brittany spent ten years working as an instructor and administrator at a full-service cosmetology school. Working in a college was the perfect combination of keeping in touch with new ideas and techniques, and also with the enthusiasm students show in their work and interests. She cherishes her time there. Brittany is the married mom of two young children, and cut back on her work hours in 2008 to spend more time with them. She was raised in a "football family" full of brothers, loves everything pop culture, and has spent time over the last few years working on her family history.